USA > Missouri > Bates County > The old settlers' history of Bates County, Missouri : from its first settlement to the first day of January, 1900 > Part 1
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OLD SETTLERS' H ISTORY
1
OF
BATES COUNTY,
MISSOURI.
FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE FIRST DAY OF JANUARY, 1900.
PUBLISHED BY TATHWELL & MAXEY. AMSTERDAM. MO.
1 120 EN
HON. J. B.NEWBERRY, PRES.
HON. CLARK WIX, V.PRES.
PUBLIC !!! 10 236783B
=
COPYRIGHT. 195. EY S. L. TATHWELL ..
Printed by TATHWELL & MOORE. Amsterdam, Mo.
Publishers' Announcement.
To The Old Settlers of Bates County, and The Public in General.
It is the intention of the publishers to present an accurate and brief account of the settlement, growth and advance- ment of our county. Statistics are dry reading for the aver- age person. and may be found in carefully prepared public documents. We only use such as are necessary to verify specific statements. Believing that a work compiled from the narratives of those of the early settlers who yet remain with us. but whose ranks are becoming .broken and wavering, and will prove most interesting reading to the thousands who are today enjoying the fruits of their early toil. and having the greatest respect for the memories of the past, as well as for the participants in the various processes and stirring events which have wrought such wondrous changes in this beautiful and fertile county of ours, manifest by a compari- son of the conditions existing a half century ago with the immediate present; and believing that it is only by awaken- ing an interest in, and encouraging investigation of the nu- merous striking incidents of real life yet stored in the minds of the few remaining ones of the pioneer period, that those valuable mementoes of the past may be preserved from ob- livion we have compiled this work and hereby wish to ac- m knowledge our indebtedness and in some degree express our appreciation of the kindness of Hon. J. B. Nowberry, Clark Wix. S. C. Sturtevant. Judge C. I. Robords, Judge Bartlett, C. C. Blankenbecker. Prof. L. B. Allison. Judge C. F. Box- ley, John Divinny. Ed. S. Austin and others who have great- gly assisted us in our work by submitting invaluable articles, c-reminiscences, etc. And further desiring to cultivate more Nfriendly and fraternal relations among those who have en- 'dured the trials and enjoyed the pleasures incident to pioneer life and early citizenship in our beloved county: We do most respectfully dedicate this work to The Old Settlers' Society of Bates County.
S. L. TATHWELL, ! Publishers. H. O. MAXEY. .
Send.,
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PREFACE.
The compilers, in preparing this work, have sought to ob- tain only authentic narratives, and have diligently searched the obtainable records for all such facts as in their judge- ment are germane to a brief and reliable history of our county.
Believing that the county is the nucleus of our goveru- ment. and that at least in some degree a knowledge of its history is imperative to the highest conception of citizenship: we have prepared a history which we believe will be inter- esting as to fact, and which will be made entertaining by a recital of the experiences of its pioneers.
The history of Bates County commences with the estab- lishment of Harmony Mission, and may be divided into four periods, viz :-
I Period, Settlement: 1821 to 1800.
II Period, War; 1860 to 1865.
III Period, Recuperation: 1865 to 1870.
IV Period, Development: 1870 to 19h.
Periods I to III are proper subjects for the attention of the historian: the IV period is but begun. First Pe- riod embraces thirty-nine of the seventy-eight years which have elapsed since the founding of the first settlement, and to it belong the interesting stories of pioneer life. its priva- tions and its joys: its hardships, its excitements and its bliss; its labors and its pleasures. And great were the changes its years brought to pass. Broad prairies, whose limits the eye could not trace. one great mass of luxurient vegetation which grew in wild and tangled profusion: gloomy forests whose somber shades were scarce dispelled by the noon-day sun, the ideal home of beasts of prey: within thirty-nine years from the time of the founding of the first white settlement. both wood and prairie acknowledged the power of the con- queror.
The first settlements were made along the many water- courses, as we find it to be the case in all countries. There the hardy pioncer found material to build his rude, but serr-
icable aml substantial dwelling and fence his fields. The forests also offered protection from the storms which swept across the unbroken expanse of prairies.
The first settlers were from Virginia. Kentucky. Tonnes- see and other southern states, many of whom had before set- tled in older portions of the state and were attracted to this section by the story of its rich soil and equable climate.
The development of the settlements was not rapid, owing to the great distance from market and the slow and tedious process of freighting in supplies, but the pioneer is not a man to be easily discouraged and he went sturdily on with his work. and his wants were few outside of what the re- sources of the country afforded him. It is a matter of con- gratulation that he was but little troubled by the Indian, whose hunting grounds he usurped. But few acts of depre- dation were committed by the red man, and not a single at- tack was made on a white settlement. The woods also, ap- pear to have been especially free from ferocious or really dangerous animals, although they abonnded in game and af- forded rare sport for the hunter.
While the white man first came to this county in 1821. the tide of emigration did not turn in this direction until nearly twenty years later. From that time until the breaking out of the Civil War was the real colonial period. The story of period I is a story of trials and hardships, but also one of progress. Period II is a tale of sorrow, of terror and of re- trogression. The tidal wave of a night sweeps away the mighty city which taxed the ingenuity of man to rear in a hundred years! The blight of the Civil War almost wiped ont the results of thirty-nine years of weary toil.
Although the campaign of 1>60 showed the southern sym- pathizers to be overwhelmingly in the majority, there were a goodly number who refused to take up arms against the Federal government. There were no regular engagements fought in the county, but border raffians and bushwhackers loft a trail of blood on the fair page of our history. To check these ontrages, Home Guards were organized and did good work in quelling the lawless element. It was only. hower- er. in the towns that adequate protection could be afforded, and after a series of robberies and murders the greater part of the settlers left their finns, and thousands of acres of fer-
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tile land were allowed to return to their wild state. The pe- riod closes with ruin and desolation showing black and grim on every side.
The close of the war stopped actual hostilities, but left many bitter fends, some of which lasted for years. When the militia was withdrawn. the disorganized civil govern- .ment was almost overpowered in its struggle with this tur- bulent element. and it was not until 1-66 that any consider- able number of the refugees returned to their ruined honne- steads. Many never returned, and their lands roverted to the government. Slowly the rough places were smoothed over; houses were built and fields reclaimed. Law and or- der triumphed, and progress once more took up its onward march. Then came the rush of immigration, largely from the east and north, and new life was infused into both business and social affairs. During the latter half of this period phe- nominal progress was made.
Period IV finds our county fully settled, ready to enter on a long period of development. The large tracts of commons. which had heretofore furnished pasturage and hay for the community adjacent, passed under private ownership, and our prairies lost their identity. Cities and towns filled up and new ones were established. This was an era of railroad - building. (ou.paper) and some of these projects have left un- pleasant memories. In the seventies, goods were freighted from Appleton City and Pleasant Hill. Missouri, and La- Cygne, Kansas. With the exception of the Missouri, Kan- sas & Texas which touched the south-east corner, the county was without railroad facilities until hor great coal fields were developed in 1850. Since that time a great industry has been carried on.
As to the thoroughness with which we have covered the ground thus briefly sketched. we leave the generous reader to judge.
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OF BATES COUNTY.
MISSOURI.
Sketch of State History to 1821. When County History Be- glax.
In order that we. as Historians -- if we be permitted to use the title-may faithfully portray the wonderful and unex- ampled development of Bates County, and satisfy the con- ditions imposed by ourselves, it is necessary to briefly sketch the history of that part of the territory west of the Mississip- pi River, which now constitutes the great State of Missouri, and of which Bates County-our particular care-has as va- ried. thrilling and interesting a story as any part thereof.
Long, long years before the sound of the ax was heard in the forests, or the waters of the lakes and rivers were dis- turinal by the white man's canoe. the Indian roamed over the prairies, pitched his rade camp in the forests. and fish- "dl in the waters -undisturbed by traders, "fire water," or homeseekers: living his primitive life with few wants, and those wants easily supplied by the bountiful products of Na- Ihre, over ready to be gathered, and without money or price.
This condition of things remained entirely unbroken until 1541. when Hernando de Soto, that Prince of Spanish explor- ors and adventurers. (In his vain and fatal search for gold, was invited to penetrate further and further into the un- known wilderness, by the stories of inexhaustable supplies of gold to be found. told him by the Indians.) reached, with a part of his followers, the banks of the Mississippi, and crossed over into Missouri near what is now New Madrid county. and continuing his search traveled westwardly across the southern part of the state and then south into what is now Arkansas.
His explorations in this part of the country, however, amounted to nothing more than furnishing Spain with a claim to the territory which it was never able to make good, because the Spaniards did not follow De Soto's work by any effort to colonize. until the country here was settled by the
OLD SETTLERS' HISTORY
subjects of another power.
Not until more than one hundred years after De Soto was here, have we any record of this country having been visited by another white man.
A French Dobleman, James Marquette, part soldier, part priest. inspired by a lofty desire to carry Christianity to the red man: ir 1673, accompanied by Louis Joliet and some few others, was the second white man to set foot on what is now Missouri soil. He and his companions floated. in canoes. down the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Arkansas. and returning to the French settlements in the north, gave such a glowing account of the country they had visited: its mighty rivers, abundance of game and docile Indians, that Robert De La Salle was fired with a desire to explore thi; country further and take possession of so promising a terri- tory for his master. Louis XIV of France.
Accordingly, in 16-2 he organized an expedition for this purpose and, reaching the Mississippi, descended it to its mouth and formally took possession of all the territory drain- ed by it and its tributaries and named the entire country Louisiana. Therefore the French were the first to take pos- session of this territory, and the first to thoroughly explore it.
In 1705 another party of French ascended the Missouri to the vicinity of what is now Jackson county, and in 1719 the country was crossed by them from the Osage to the north- west part of the present state: and from this time exploring and trading expeditions were numerous throughout the en- tire country-
But the country was still claimed by Spain and in 1720 the Spaniards made one futile effort to wrest it from the French, by sending out an expedition which was betrayed by its guides to hostile Indians, but it served to arouse the French who now sent troops into the country and built a fort some- where on the Missouri near the mouth of Grand River, but these people were soon after killed by the Indians and this settlement abandoned
The fur trade and hunting were vigorously continned, but no effort to settle or hold the country was again made until about 1735 to 45 when a settlement was made at St. Gene- vieve, in the eastern part of the state on the Mississippi Riv-
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er. near the site of the town at present bearing that name.
This settlement was made by a party of French miners un- der the direction of a wealthy French mine operator, Re- nault. who came across the river in a vain search for gold and silver, but in their search they did find raivable lead de- posits, and proceeded to erect smelters, and mine and smelt the ore. France furnished them a ready market for all the lead they could produce, and the "Father of Waters" was the great highway on which their boats might carry it down to New Orleans to be there shipped to France. The import- ance of this industry caused numbers of settlers to flock here and St. Genevieve soon became a place of no mean impor- tance. But in 1785 the original town was destroyed by an overflow of the Mississippi and the new town was built up where it now is.
The next important settlement was made at St. Louis in 1864. Pierre Laclede. a French fur trader, selected this spot, for the establishment of his trading post, because of its excellent facilities for communication with the Indians of the West and North-west and also because it was a convenient place from which to ship his furs to New Orleans to narket.
About the time Laclede was founding St. Louis, Blan- chette was erecting rude buildings and trading with the In- dians at the spot on which St. Charles now stands. It was first called Village of the Hills, and at this place and in the territory tributary to it occurred most of the Indian troubles and massacres which were attendant upon the settlement of this state.
But just at this time came the decisive battle of Quebec which forced France to dispose of practically all of her terri- lory in North America and in the re-arrangement of bounda- ries all the country west of the Mississippi that had been claimed by France was given to Spain and thereby Missouri became undisputed Spanish territory. But Spain sent no of- ficials to take charge of the civil affairs until 1770 and the French so heartily disliking the English and also thinking the Spanish would perhaps never give the country attention. flocked in great numbers from east of the Mississippi to Spanish territory and rapidly settled the eastern portion of the state. The settlers congregated for the most part in vil- lages and hold the land in common, each settler being privi-
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OLD SETTLERS HISTORY
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leged to fence and coltivate as much as he cared to. They enjoyed civil and religious liberty in a marked degree.
This brings us up to the time when Nepoleon, at the very zenith of his power and glory, was practicing the art of emu- pire building at the expense of the. Eastern Continent. not being satisfied with so small an area for his gigantic plans for the extension of French supremacy, he erected the King- dom of Etruria, and secretly, from fear of England, proposed to the king of Spain to make his son-in-law king of this new kingdom in exchange for the cession, by Spain to France, of Louisiana. This proposition was accepted and thereby Louisiana, of which Missouri was then a part, again became French territory. But so important an exchange could not long be kept secret, and soon became known in both Eng- land and America. This knowledge caused great alarm in the United States, from the fact that the relations between France and this government were somewhat strained at this time, and France, having control of the Mississippi, coukl do the people west of the Alleghanies incalculable harm by closing the river to them. as it was their only practicable outlet at that time. England. however, determined to pre- vant Nepoleon's possessing himself of this territory, and he. realizing his inability to defend France and hold the terri- tory, proposed to sell it to the United States, in order both to conciliate us and prevent the possibility of England so- curing it. His proposition was egarly arecept. d. and for the sum of $15.0010,000, we became the possessors of Louisiana. and Missouri became a part of the United States.
The Territory was soon after divided, aud the part con- taining Missouri attached to the Territory of Indiaua for the purpose of government, but the people objecting to this. it was soon afterwards detached and made a separate Territory, the first Governor being James Wilkinson. It wasfrom this time on rapidly settled, principally by immigrants from the Eastern states. This continued until 1s1>, when the people of the Territory applied for admission as a state.
This application brought on a violent coutest between the slavery and anti-slavery factions in Congress. finally settled :. by the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Missouri as a". slave state. On August 10th, 1821. by proclamation of Presi- dent Monroe, it became in fact a state.
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FRANK E. KELLOGG
was born in Claridon. Geauga County, Ohio, on the 20th day of April, 1851 ; brought up on a farm, remaining on the one purchased from the Connecticut Land company and cleared up by his grandfather in the early part of the present century ; taught several terms in the district school and "boarded around"; in 1879 in his home township, was elected justice of the peace and at this time was also reading law. Resigning his position, he came to Missouri in October, 18So, and embarked in the mercantile business; resided in Butler one vear, since which time he has been a resident of Rich Hill, Missouri, and for eighteen years was secretary and treasurer of the M. S. Cowles Mercantile company. His old congressional district (the 19th Ohio) was for many years represented by Benj. F. Wade, Joshua R. Giddings and James A. Garfield, and he was quite well acquaint- ed with the latter. Was married to Della J. Wells in 1877; one child, a daughter, Della May, was born February 5, 1883. He was elected superintendent of the First Presbyterian Sunday School in Rich Hill in January, 1894. and still holds that position, going to Rich Hill every Sunday. His hobby is the breeding of Shorthorn cattle and he is interested in one of the best herds of pure bred animals in the country. Mr. Kellogg has always been a republican in politics and represented his, the Sixth Congressional District of Missouri. as a delegate in the Republi- can National Convention at St. Louis in 1896. Was appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for the Western district of Missouri, and entered upon the duties of his office May 1, 1899. Frank Kellogg, as he is familiarly called, is one of the most companionable men in the world, and his friends are only numbered by the limit of his acquaintance. He is a capable, faithful business man, and an honorable party politician. His relations and influence with the present administration is all that one of his position could ask. While he is temporarily residing with his estimable family in Kansas City, Bates county is his home, and her people feel a local pride in his successful career. Hence his place in this Bates County book.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Aledious research among the records of a half century ago; written some four yearsago by S. C. Starterant, and is ire ognierd as a correr! " Government. Through the courtesy of Judge Clark II i.v. for President of The Oh! Settiers' Association, ire secured.
The faithful historian in taking upon himself the task of giving anything like a complete account of any part of the earth wishes, of course, to begin at the beginning. But up- on going back to find the point at which to commence. he in- variably finds himself beyond the time of authentic record and in the midst of traditions, theories and suppositions, which, perhaps, have a foundation in fact. but which are dif- ferentiy interpreted and lead investigators to different con- «lusions, so that the ordinary reader is utterly unable to set- tle in his own mind what is the truth. We find it utterly im- possible to fix datos or give any connected account of the people of prehistoric times, yet we have evidence to estab- lish beyond a doubt, that populous, powerful and wealthy nations existed thousands of years proceeding the period of which we have any recorded history.
' In 1505 a territ orial government was organized by Congress for the territory embraced in the Louisiana Purchase. The settled parts of Missouri were divided into four districts, but es no white men lived in what is now Bates County, it was not meluded in either, but remained unorganized until Jan- nary 23. 1516. when the Territorial Legislature passed an act organizing Howard county. It included all that part of Missouri north of the Osage and west of Cedar Creek and the dividing ridge between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. It comprised what is now ninteen counties north of the river. twelve south of the river and part of nine others. The county - seat was fixed at Cole's Fort. where the first court was held July 8. 1516. In 1817 the county seat was removed to Frank-
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OLD SETTLERS HISTORY
lin, on the Missouri River. The spot on which it stood has been entirely washed away by the ever-shifting current of the Missouri. Saline county was organized from territory south of the river, in 1820 and 1821, by the first State Legis- lature, Missouri having been just admitted as a state. The Lext session, 1821-22, Jackson county was organized from territory between the Marais des Cygnes and Missouri rivers. Harmony Mission was established in 1821, and was the only settlement in what is now Bates. In 1833 a new county was organized out of that part of Jackson now comprised in the counties of Bates, Cass and Vernon, and was named Van Buren in honor of Martin VanBuren, then Vice President under Jackson. Afterwards, during Van Buren's adminis- tration, he became very unpopular in this locality and Gen- eral Lewis Cass, being then a popular statesman and the member of the State Legislature from the county, secured the passage of a bill changing the name from Van Buren to Cass county, but not making any change in the boundry lines. Thus it remained till 1811, when Cass was divided on the line dividing townships 40 and 41, the territory south of that line to the present south line of Vernon being the new county and it was called Bates. It will be observed that the north line of Bates was then only three miles north of where Butler now stands.
The first court was held in the church at Harmony Mis- sion, with Hon. Foster P. Wright as Presiding Judge. The courts were held at this place three or four years, then the county seat was located on the north bank of the river, where Papinsville now stands, the town being named in hon- or of Milicourt Papin, a French trader who donated the land for the town. William Gilbreath of Hudson township, was one of the commissioners to select the site for the county seat. Being at the head of navigation on the Osage it soon became quite a trading point, and a considerable village grew up. The unsurpassed facilities for stock raising in this lo- cality soon attracted many settlers, and as the population in- creased various projects were devised for new counties.
Harrisonville was the county seat of Cass and situated 20 miles north of the south line, as the boundaries of the county were. at that time. The people of that town and vicinity furnished the majority of voters in the county and they fear-
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OF BATES COUNTY.
ed that when the territory should all become settled up the county seat would be removed to Austin, or some other lo- cation near the center of the county. They were, therefore. anxious to give off that part of the county south of Grand River, that they might be sure of holding the county seat at Harrisonville. Accordingly, their Representative, in con- nection with the Representative of Bates, Major McHenry, made an effort to organize a new county. but failed to carry it through. R. B. Fisher was the next Representative from Bates, and in connection with the Cass county man. he got a bill through. forming a new county. comprised of the same territory as is now included in the boundaries of Bates, ex- cept that the south line extended cast from the Kausas line, as now, until it reached the Osage, where, instead of follow- ing the river channel as at present, it crossed and continued dne east, thus leaving Papinsville in the old county which retained the name of Bates, and the new county was called Vernon.
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