USA > Missouri > Pike County > The history of Pike County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01064 2855
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofpikecou02mill
THE
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY,
MISSOURI.
V. 21
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF USEFUL INFORMATION, AND A COMPENDIUM OF ACTUAL FACTS.
IT CONTAINS
A CONDENSED HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI AND ITS CHIEF CITY -- ST. LOUIS; THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AND OF MISSOURI AND AN ABSTRACT OF THE LAWS OF MISSOURI; A RELIABLE HISTORY OF PIRE COUNTY-ITS LEGAL, POLITICAL, OFFICIAL, AND WAR HISTORY: A SKETCH OF THE BENCH AND BAR; THE MEDICAL FRATERNITY ; THE OLD LADIES OF PIKE COUNTY; SCHOOL; CHURETTS: THE PRESS; MATERIAL PROGRESS AND GENERAL RESOURCES; BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES: INCIDENTS. ETC., ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
DES MOINES, IOWA : MILLS & COMPANY. 1852.
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY.
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tories; tickle the literary palates of the aesthetic Bostonians, and supply the tables of a portion of the royalty of Europe. During the present season. with only a partial crop in the county, the township has, after reserving an abundance for home use and selling the inferior apples to the vinegar factory. sent out not less than forty thousand barrels, the proceeds of which are re- turned to eurich the prosperous fariner.
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GRASSES.
Another source of beauty and of wealth is the luxuriant and nutritions grasses which contribute so largely to the supply of food for the thousands of thorough-breds and graded cattle which roam the plains of Calumet. Blue-grass, which here springs spontaneously from the soil, constitutes. with clover, the principal pasturage, and hundreds of miles and thousands of cat- tle are annually sent to market fatted upon no costlier diet. When the forests are first cut away, the creeping grasses, with noiseless growth, cover with garments of living green, the naked form of the virgin earth, and sup- ·ply with their gentle beauty the loss of the forest's noble grandenr.
SPRINGS, ETC.
The water supply of the township is abundant, for what the streams may, in dry seasons, fail to give, the springs will yield or the wells and ponds be made to furnish. When the township was first settled it was difficult to find living water, even with the aid of the forked switch and the water- witch, and a few bold springs then frequently supplied the wants of a neighborhood. Latterly this condition of things has changed, until now where once water could not be found, it gusbes forth as readily and abun- dantly as it did from the rock at Horeb upon the smiting of the great Jew- ish lawgiver.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
Underlying the surface of the earth, at a depth easily accessible, in many parts of the township are large and valuable beds of limestone, some of which have been utilized in the manufacture of lime. There is also a vein or lead of potter's clay anderlying the surface at Clarksville, which has been pronounced by experts to be equal to that of Illinois, out of which excellent ware has been made, and one gentleman, a non-resident, familiar with the business, expressed the conviction that ware equal to that of New Hamy- shire might be produced here. When our knowledge of chemistry shall have been applied to the elimination of salt, the objectional element. from
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the clays of the western states, Calumet may take her place in line with the other districts that will then successfully compete with the best European pottery and the finest English queensware. Predictions wilder than these have been verified in this wonderful valley of the Mississippi, and many who read this history will yet witness such efforts in this direction as will induce them to accept these declarations as the voice of prophecy. An abundance of excellent building stone in the township, prominently the quarry of Mr. Win. A. Forgey, near the line of the C., B. & Q. R'y, and which is destined at an early day to meet the growing demand for this char- acter of material by supplying St. Louis with foundations and capstones for the residences of her citizens or the huge business structures hereafter to be erected. Brick elay of superior quality can be found anywhere in the town- ship, and has already been used in all the principal buildings of both the town and country.
ARCHEOLOGICAL.
It is claimed by many that in different portions of the township some archaeological specimens have been found. That a partial excavation of some of the monnds discovered along the summits of the line of bluffs ad- jacent to the river has revealed skeletons which appear to have rested in their stone-lined sepulchre for ages there can be no doubt, but whether they differ sufficiently in their size and structure from the physical organ. ism of the aborigines as to induce the conviction that they are genuine pre- historic relics must be left to the decision of the intelligent antiquarian. Portions of the frame of a mastodon have certainly been found in different parts of the township, and but a few years ago two teeth and a part of the jaw-bone of one of these hnge monsters were found in an excellent state of preservation. One of these teeth is still in the possession of Dr. C. W. Pharr of Clarksville, where any one can see it who is curious enough to in- spect the possibly last relie of a race of beasts whose heavy tread once shook the earth.
GRAVEL ROADS.
No like area of territory can boast of better roads than the township of Calumet. Early imbued with the idea that good roads contributed largely . to the development of a country, her citizens, led by a few enterprising spir- its, organized, under the county court, in May, 1857, the "Clarksville, Prairie- ville, and Paynesville Road Company." The actual length of this road is fif. teen miles, penetrating the finest portion of the township, and bringing to the 33
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door of Clarksville, the chief town of the township, the agricultural products of the vast Egypt lying in her rear. The stock for the construction of this road was subscribed. one-half by the county, four thousand dollars by the municipality of Clarksville, a large proportion of the balance by her private citizens, and the remainder by farmers resident along the line of the survey. The first board of directors were Newton MeDannold, John O. Roberts, II. V. P. Block, Joseph Mcloan, J. E. Forgey, Peter Carr, and James T. Wil- son.
The first officers were Newton MeDannold, president; John O. Roberts. secretary, and I. V. P. Block, treasurer. The contract for its construction was let to John H. Baily on the 4th of September, 1857, but he having failed, the contract was relet on the 28th of April, 1855, to Michael Lynch and Patrick Conway, and the road was completed July 16, 1860. Prior to its completion, and as essential thereto, it became necessary to borrow money, and the board of directors, earnest in the work undertaken. in the interests of the people, executed their individual note for the sum of ten thousand dollars. In the course of a few years it became necessary to procure a char- ter from the state legislature, at which time the name of the road was changed to Clarksville Road Company.
There has been expended in the construction of this road 878,365.82, and in repairs $49,131.79, while the expenses have aggregated $15.514.51, and the receipts for tolls have been $$2.741.02. This is beyond all question one of the very best roads in the state, made so by the wisdom of its managers in applying the toll receipts to the keeping of the road-bed in the highest state of excellence demanded by the vast amount of travel. Of this road the people are justly proud. They pay their tolls cheerfully, feeling that they have one of the best roads in the country, and penetrating one of the finest countries on the continent.
To Judge Newton MeDannold, who surrendered at his death, some two years ago, the office of its presidency, and whose duties he so long and faithfully performed, to John O. Roberts, who has been secretary of the company from the date of its organization, and to whose tact and abilities other enterprises of even greater moment owe their existence, no less than to H. V. P. Block, until a few months ago the only treasurer the road ever had, and whose financial skill and foresight aided largely in bridging the chasms along the route of a struggling directory, is most largely dne the success of an enterprise of incalculable benetit to the citizens of Calumet, as also of inestimable advantage to the people of both Pike and Lincoln counties.
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THE CALUMET ROAD.
Another publie highway of vast importance to the people of the town- ship is the Calumet road, which, starting from Dover Church, seven miles west of the Mississippi, where it intersects the Louisiana and Prairieville macadam, follows the general course of the creek of that name, and finds, like the C., P. & P., its terminas in the city of Clarksville. This road, under a like organization with the other, was commenced in the same year. The route was vastly superior to that over which the first road was constructed, the former requiring some cuts and fills, with occasional curves, to avoid the heaviest grades, while the latter, following the smooth and even surface of the beautiful Calmmet valley, is almost an air line, and well nigh as free from grades as the bed of the flowing stream near whose margin it has been constructed. After expending about thirteen thousand dollars the road was abandoned, and not until 1867 was the company reorganized. At this time the directory was partially changed by the introduction of a few new and live men into the board, when the Rip Van Winkle nap was bro- ken and a new impetus given to the enterprise. By the most strennous ef- forts the new company succeeded in collecting between four thousand and five thousand dollars, which being largely inadequate to the work to be done, Mr. John O. Roberts, on behalf of the company, proposed to turn over this amount to the county court with the understanding that the county would accept the funds and complete the road. So adroitly was the under- taking managed and so logically and eloquently presented to the learned bench that, much to the surprise of both the road company and the people, the court did accept the proposition and soon thereafter completed the road. A few were inclined to complain at the action of the court, believing that one township was thus made the recipient of benefits which could not be dispensed to all. But when it is remembered that the country through which the road was built contributes ahnost as much to the revenue of the county as some of the western townships, that the county owns the road. and is entitled to all its receipts, after keeping it in splendid condition for its users, and that few county justices are capable of rising superior to the power of Calumet diplomacy, it will readily be seen that there were strong reasons for the court's apparent bad legislation.
Besides the two roads above described, not less than six miles of the Lonis- iana and Prairieville macadam is built upon land situated in the western part of Calumet township, while many of the so-called country roads are be- ing graded and graveled from the point of their intersection with the roads
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in question to some farm-house, creek, or church in the township. In an- other decade, should the spirit of enterprise keep pace with the accumula- tion of wealth, the traveler through the borders of Calminct can stalk with fearless tread, dry shod, along the graveled road-beds of the murky valleys, or drive his iron-hoofed steed thundering over the rock-lined highways of the foot-hills and the uplands.
RAILROADS.
It is not alone in the building of her gravel roads that the persistent en- terprise and indomitable pluck of her citizens have been exhibited, but the nerve and energy of the people of Calumet have been conspicuously dis- played in the undertaking and final construction of a line of railway through the township and the county. Feeling the want of other communication with the outside world than that afforded by the Mississippi River, and be- lieving that in action lay the hope of ultimato success, a few gentlemen proceeded, on the 6th of December, 1869, to organize, under the general railroad law of the state, the " Clarksville & Western Railway Co." So chimerical did the project then appear that the subscribers were limited to the members of the board of directors, which consisted of John O. Roberts, William McIntosh, M. S. Goodman, James W. Stark, Joseph Meloan, J. F. Forgey, Newton McDannold, C. W. Pharr and J. C. Jamison. With scarcely money enough for a preliminary survey, but with much ardor in the enter- prise, and great faith in each other, the board effected its organization by electing John O. Roberts president, and choosing L. A. Welch, the bril- liant and lamented editor of the Clarksville Sentinel, as their secretary. A subscription of $18,000 was immediately sought and secured from the municipality of Clarksville, and the people of Calumet were asked to assist the enterprise by voting an appropriation of $100,000 in township bonds. With such haste were the objects of the board pushed to their culmination that the last days of the same month that witnessed its organization saw the people of the township flocking to the polls, eager to deposit their ballots in favor of a self-imposed tax, that the road, which as yet existed only in the luxuriant imaginations of the fanciful few, might be pushed to an early completion. The northern limit of this road was to be the Lonisiana & Missouri River Railroad, and the phraseology of the articles of association was singularly happy in that the terminns could be made at Louisiana, Bowling Green, or any intermediate point. Had any specific point been designated as the northern terminus, the result of the township election would doubtless have been different. But as the range of possible construc-
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tion swept the whole horoscope of northern Calumet, and as every farmer saw on his own premises a natural location for an iron highway, while hope, the father of illegitimate thought, blandly whispered sweet assurance, the people of this section were alike enthusiastic and unanimous for the project, while the southeastern portion of the township lent their assistance with the expectation of deriving benefits from its probable southern extension. On the 29th of April. 1871, the charter was extended from Clarksville south- ward to Dardenne, and from Louisiana northward to Hannibal. As Buffalo township had voted a like appropriation with Calumet to the Clarksville & Western Railroad, and as Louisiana had been made a point on the line there was now a reorganization of the board of directors in order that Buffalo township might have representation in the same, and the new Board con- sisted of John O. Roberts, William McIntosh, M. S. Goodinan, C. W. Pharr, J. C. Jamison, William Stark, W. C. Orr, R. A. Campbell, and W. O. Hardin. Under this organization work was commenced in the winter of 1872 on the north bank of Calumet Creek and near the northern hmits of the city of Clarksville. Before mueh was done, however, the Clarksville & Western was consolidated on January 20th, 1873, with the Mississippi Valley R'y, which had built from Keokuk to Hannibal, forming the Missis- sippi Valley & Western Railroad Co. But little was now done and the friends of the road were again becoming despondent, when another change ensued in 1875, and the Mississippi Valley & Western was sold out and bought by the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern R'y Co. In 1876 this company constructed the road from Hannibal to Louisiana, and in the win- ter of 1877 graded, ironed, and equipped that portion lying between Louisana and Clarksville, which they continued to operate, and in 1879 they con- structed southward to Dardenne or St. Peters, the southern terminus of the line, and where it intersects the St. Louis and Wabash. Thus after ten years of laborious effort and patient waiting, have the originators of the scheme to give Clarksville and Calumet easy communication with the cities of the plains and the ports of the seas, seen their apparently Utopian dream so nearly realized that to-day they can step almost from the doorways of their own homes into a palatial car whose rapid whirl will in a few hours give to their enchanted vision the glistening spires of St. Paul or the dancing water of Minnetonka, or if they would seek a southern clime, the Iron Mountain & Southern, connecting at St. Louis. will bear them gulf- ward, where on their first awakening they may scent the fragrant breath of the orange and the lime.
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BONDED DERT.
The subscription of one hundred thousand dollars to the construction of the Clarksville & Western Railroad constitutes the entire bonded indebted- ness of Calumet township. Before the road was completed through the township, and influenced by the decisions of the courts, which held that the action of the township was illegal and the bonds invalid, the people were for a while inclined to resist their payment. But after some years of heated discussion and vexations litigation, pending which time the Supreme Court of the United States, with more zeal for the interests of the bondholders than respect for its own dignity, hastened to add to its inconsistency the conviction of its partiality, the people proposed a compromise with their creditors, and an agreement inntnally satisfactory has been happily reached. The terms of compromise are 872 per cent on all bonds upon which judg- ment has been had, and 773 per cent upon those on which no suit has been brought. An election for the ratification of this agreement by the people of the township was held on the 30th day of November, 1882, and voted by an immense majority, thus showing that the people are not only willing but even anxious to discharge their legal and moral obligations. The debt with its accumulated interest, which was compromised in like manner with the principal, will probably still aggregate as much as $100,000, but to a town- ship whose assessable wealth is over two million dollars and whose citizens are almost all wealthy or "well to do," such a sum can be rapidly reduced by the collection of an additional tax, so small that if noticed at all it can only be regarded as the merest bagatelle. But the people will not be re- quired to meet unassisted the debt in question. The railroad is now com- pleted through the township; it is assessed and taxed like other property, and must contribute to the payment of the debt which it has created. Nor ought the revenue from the road be confined to that part of it restricted to the limits of the township. The subscriptions from Buffalo and Calumet townships of $100,000 each, in bonds, were the funds that constructed the road from Salt River, in Pike county, to St. Peters, in St. Charles, and un- der the law that authorized those subscriptions these townships are entitled to all the taxes that may be collected from the railway company between these points in perpetuity. This is the opinion of more than one of the ablest lawyers in the state and the subject is certainly of sufficient import- ance to invite the closest legal investigation. But should the people of Cal- umet receive no more than their township quota of taxes from the company the time is not far distant when the collections from the road will yield a
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fair interest upon the investment and supply the township with a fund at least partially adequate to the education of its children.
RESIDENCES.
Next to her soil and her scenery, the pride of the township is the homes of her eitizens. From shaded park, verdant lawn, or sunlit mound, rises the beautiful cottage, the magnificent residence, and the colossal mansion. The sons of toil have not labored in vain. Responsive to their energies, the fer- tile earth, pregnant with unlimited wealth, has yieldled up her hidden treas- ures. The expenditure of money has been as lavish as the acenmulation of riches has been rapid. The waving forests, where cleared away, have only given place to the well trained evergreen and plants rare and exotic. In places the beautiful walks are fringed with flowers and the evening zephyr laden with their rich perfume. From the ardnous labor and the warin sun- shine the Calumet farmer can rotire to the refreshing shade of a beautiful home. Pennsylvania, with her accumulated years; New York, with its boasted wealth; nor Massachusetts, with her esthetic culture, ean furnish a finer picture of heantifnl, happy, rural home life than is found in the admi- rably kept and splendidly furnished homes of the people of Calumet.
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SCHOOLS.
While caring for the physical well-being of her citizens, Calumet has not been unmindful of the intellectual wants of her children. Within the limits of the township, and outside of the towns, eleven schools, under the conduct of trained and efficient teachers, furnish the means of acquiring a thorough English education. When these schools cease to meet the wants of any one or more in the community, the private schools of higher grade, the denomi- national colleges, or the state university are called into requisition, and the pupil furnished, when the parent is able, the best facilities for pursuing a classical and scientific course. There are not less than three schools in the township devoted to the education of the colored youth, and while it is pos- sibly unwise to predict mnuch for them until the grade of the teacher shall be somewhat elevated, it is nevertheless true that in the strictly elementary branches the pupils have made some progress.
CHURCHES.
While the farms furnish the labor and exercise necessary to the physical development of the people of the rural districts and the schools provide for the intellectual wants of the children and the youth:, the moral nature of all'"
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requires guidance and instruction and this necessity is met in the five coun- try churches which minister to the religious wants of the people of the township.
RAMSEY CREEK CHURCH.
This is the oldest religious organization within the limits of Pike county. More than sixty years ago it was planted in the almost unbroken forests of Calumet, and through the lapse of years that has succeeded it has been vocal with the praises of the Christian's God. From the best data to be had this church was organized about the year 1818 or 1819 by Rev. Stephen Rud- dell, formerly of Kentucky. The land upon which the first clinreh, a struc- ture of hewn logs, was built, was deeded by Edmond Mountjoy to the Bap- tists, and it is claimed by many of the oldest citizens that it .remained as one church (Baptist) until May, 1823, when Hughs and Rodgers, known as "New Lights," came out from Kentucky and a protracted effort was held at Ramsey, and several having applied for membership a dispute arose as to who should administer the ordinance of baptism. the Baptist pastor or the "New Light" preacher, and Mr. Rodgers having officiated, Rev. Ruddell surrendered his charge of the church and a split at once ensued. Whether this be fiction or fact, certain it is as shown by the records that the Baptists reorganized formally on the 26th day of April, 1823, and that about the same time Dr. II. Hughs was sent by his father from Kentucky to look after the spiritual wants of those, who differing from the Baptist teachings, now organized under the name of " Reformers." Among the earliest mem- bers, as shown by the old records as belonging to the Baptist Church at Ramsey may be mentioned Edmond Mountjoy, Michael Tilson, Thomas Buchanan, Mary Mountjoy, Nancy Carter, Susan Planket, Ann Buchanan, Nancy Leah, Gibson Jenkins, Robert Burns, Matthew Sapp, Elizabeth Box- ley, Richard Sanders, Jeptha Jeans, Daniel Moss, and others. At this time the Rev. Davis Biggs, who succeeded Rev. Stephen Ruddell, was the pastor in charge. That this view of a controverted subject is correct would also appear from the fact that the records of the Cliristian Church at Paynes- ville, which continued to worship in the house at Ramsey Creek until the year 1852, trace their origin to the branch of the Church of Christ which the said records state was instituted at Ramsey Creek on the 2d day of February, 1823. Thus while the organization of the Reformers was earlier than the formal reorganization of the Baptists, it is still manifest that a church organization of some kind antedated the institution of theirs by not less than four or five years, and hence the conclusion that the Baptist
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Church was originally organized at Ramsey and that the other, or Christian, was a dissenting branch, appears alike reasonable and logical. This church, a large and solid brick structure, is now under the exclusive control of the Baptist denomination. is entirely out of debt, has a membership of seventy- five souls, and is possessed of considerable spiritual vitality. It has contrib- uted its part to the religions instruction of the people, and from its portals have gone ont many who, with their families, have assisted in founding or strengthening other organizations of like faith and order within the limits of the association.
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